Read this if you get tired of the journey

It’s the road to getting there is the very important part. The end in some ways, it’s exhilarating in some ways, it’s a let-down. It’s the getting there.

I think Robert Louis Stevenson said, “It’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive.” Once you arrive, the journey is over in a sense. It’s the journey that’s the important thing. Yes. The fact that it is an accomplishment for which you’ve been working gives you a feeling, maybe the best feeling from a coaching point of view, when you just see the thrill it is giving the youngsters under your supervision.

My teams got to the National Championship ten times, the National Championship game, and we happened to win every one of those that we got there. Before the end of each game none of them were determined in the last seconds. We had them won within the last minute or so. And there would be a time-out. There was in every one. Each time, I told my players, “Now I’m very proud of you. You’ve had a great achievement. But now, when this is over, don’t make a fool out of yourself. Let our alumni do that. Feel good. Cut the nets down if you want to, but don’t get carried away. This is something for us to enjoy for the moment, and let’s not get carried away. But it’s been a great accomplishment and I’m very proud of you.”